UK press blames gaming

[Akeldama]

Two very sad stories in UK newspapers today highlight the different approach to covering gaming in the tabloid and quality press. Both stories concern the neglect of babies and gaming is mentioned in both sorry tales, however one newspaper has laid the blam squarely at gaming, the other a more complicatedx series of events.


In one case a baby was suffocated when the boyfriend of its mother fell asleep on it, in the other case a boy of 11 left looking after a baby, stabbed it. Thankfully in the latter case the baby survived.

In the former case, the headline "Game-mad dad killed baby" is used in the Daily Mirror. Badly researched information is used too. "Tuffs [the accused] had been excited about buying a new game called True Crimes, the court heard." True Crime perhaps? There's clearly a sad case of anger and neglect here, but the newspaper focuses on the gaming aspect, how the accused would be angered by his gaming being interrupted by children rather than any other activity where the same may have happened.


You can read the whole tragic tale over at Boomtown (http://ps2.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=8632).

[MrMeatshake]

stupid press. i play games and i love babies. even that one i punched once. In my defense, the baby was being kind of a dick.

[TRiLoGY]

stupid press. i play games and i love babies. even that one i punched once. In my defense, the baby was being kind of a dick.

LOL... Yeah, I think the press are stupid..

[Varsity]

Meh, this is too stupid to get worked up about. If you believe the Daily Mirror you automatically mark youself out as a moron.

[MehMeh]

"UK press blames gaming"

How is that news? :p

[Deadend]

In Other News, Stupid People Do Stupid Things, Story at 11.

[Ajr]

One good news paper produces a informed article that doesn't blame games, and a tabloid writer uses paper to wipe his arse with and gives it to the editor. Boomtown spends hours thinking up the perfect hyperbolic title. The end.

[Blue]

stupid press. i play games and i love babies. even that one i punched once. In my defense, the baby was being kind of a dick.

Easily one of the best PA's ever.

[Orphiuchus]

Yea, I dont know what that babies problem was.

(I flipped off a box of kittens)

[Mrbunchypants]

To them its what sells the papers.

I punted a small dog once. ;)

[bKangy]

Yeah, the media here in the UK is actually just as fucked up as the media in the US. The difference is that the fucked up part is our newspapers, which are pretty much the vampiric, parasitic scum that every good human being would rather didn't exist.

They clambered on roofs to take pictures of private military funerals when they were expressly forbidden, spread rumours about the dead and their past exploits and overhype anything to get a cheap sale from idiots.

Seriously, I have no real problem with people hitting these fuckers if they get too close and start invading privacy.

[Savok]

UK newspaper media is considered the worst in the world for a good reason.

[williambraski]

The headline should read "Jag off conceived because of a broken condom proves he's a sack of shit by beating the fuck out of small children." Might be a little long winded, but far more accurate.

[BigJonno]

UK newspaper media is considered the worst in the world for a good reason.

Depends on what you mean by "worst." British journalism tends to be very aggressive. We don't mess around and we don't care who we piss off when it comes to getting a story. When it's good, it means we have the finest investigative journalism in the world, we tell the truth, no matter who tries to hide it. When it's bad, it's offensive, sensationalist tabloid shite.

Press photographers, on the other hand, are the scum of the earth. I gained a real appreciation for good photography when I was studying journalism and cockroaches with cameras that are employed by the press make my skin crawl.

[ElPresidente]

The very interesting thing is that the Daily Mail ran an article on one of these stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=354582&in_page_id=1770&ito=1490) I had left reader comment expressing my disgust at the events but also criticising the Dailymail for their headline, saying that had this been someone who was watching TV, or listening to music that the headline would not have referred to those elements.

I was the first comment in there, I go back today to find the view comments button no longer associated with that article and when I used my history to view the page where the comments appeared the slate had been wiped clean as it were.

Gotta love the British press.

[bKangy]

Yeah, Elpresidente, you don't really want to get in the way of the sensationalist cries of "WRYYYYYYYYYYYY!".

[splatstick]

Yeah, it's a shame they didn't take out that other baby.
*looks around, slowly backs out of room*

[FritzC]

Easily one of the best PA's ever.

Aye, that it is.

[ElPresidente]

Yeah, it's a shame they didn't take out that other baby.
*looks around, slowly backs out of room*

ROFL.

Don't worry, some of us really do appreciate inappropriate humour. :D

[Rommel]

Depends on what you mean by "worst." British journalism tends to be very aggressive. We don't mess around and we don't care who we piss off when it comes to getting a story. When it's good, it means we have the finest investigative journalism in the world, we tell the truth, no matter who tries to hide it. When it's bad, it's offensive, sensationalist tabloid shite.

Things that define poor press:

- Fabrication of stories or sources
- Libel
- Lack of fact-checking or verification
- Allowing bias or opinion into supposedly objective pieces
- Using news in a manner to influence others rather than simply inform
- Reporting on matters not newsworthy

And not as a joke or PA reference, I once kicked a pigeon. Swear to God. I was passing through a hundred or so of them and one refused to move. I was pissed that my natural supremacy was not recognized so I gave it a soccer style lace-kick. It flew up like a football towards the goal posts with it's arms hugged tightly to it's sides, until just before gravity began to overtake it's inertia and it flapped and flew off. All one hundred pigeons took flight in fear.

The scary part came next, as I wondered what possessed me to actually do such a thing. I realized all the birds were atop the storeshops adjacent to me. Watching... waiting. And now I had to act like I was tough, less they got some Alfred Hitchcock on my ass. So here I was, walking home having kicked a pigeon, threatening the sky to "Bring it on."

[Savok]

Like the Guardian's letter writing campaign to the people of Ohio trying to get them to vote Kerry?

[ElPresidente]

Your little story made my work day Rommel. Thanks for that.